Weed trimmers are popular lawn care items in use by both consumers and lawn care professionals. The most popular form of power weed trimmer is the gasoline or electric engine device wherein a motor drives a nylon cord in a rapid rotary fashion. The cord then strikes and cuts down thin stemmed vegetations, most typically grasses and other shrubs and weeds. Weed trimmers are made by many different manufacturers. Typical well-known brands are Weed-Eater®, Black & Decker® and those made by the John Deere Corporation.
Referring now to FIG. 1, a typical prior art weed trimmer 10 is depicted. A gasoline or electrical engine motor assembly 12 is attached by a shaft element 14 to a rotary device 16. The rotary device 16 projects a cutting element 18. Typically, the rotary device 16 is a spool, upon which is wrapped a quantity of nylon or plastic line. A portion of the line extends from the spool to define the cutting element 18. Alternatively, the rotary device 16 may project a plurality of rigid permanent cutting elements (not shown) formed from plastic or metal materials. The motor assembly 12 drives the rotary device 16 via the shaft 14 in a rapid fashion, wherein the rotary device 16 spins at a high revolutions-per-minute (RPM) rate, thereby spinning the cutting element 18 at a higher rate of speed, which cuts through weeds, shrubs, and other thin woody stemmed vegetation, easily cutting them at the base, much like a lawn mower with metallic cutting blades. On top of and enclosing the spinning element 16 and the cutting element 18, is a rear cover element 20. The rear cover element 20 serves two primary functions. Its first function is to protect the user of the weed eater from being struck by the cutting element line 18 or by debris cut by the cutting element 18 and thrown through the force of the cutting action or dispersed. Stones, rocks, stems, cut grass, and other debris would be cast backwards upon a user if not for the rear cover element 20. The rear cover element 20 also has a cutting element 22, which serves to cut the end of the cutting element line 18 and, therefore, assure a uniform cutting radius 24, which defines the area trimmed by the weed trimmer apparatus 10.
However, there are many disadvantages with the prior art weed trimmers described thus far. Since the cover element 20 is designed to cover and protect only the rear of the cutting element 18, the device only prevents debris from being scattered in the rearward direction. It also offers only limited protection against injury from encounters with the cutting element 18 as it is cutting rapidly about the base of the weed trimmer. Anyone who encounters the rotating cutting element from the side or the front of the weed trimmer may be injured by the rapidly moving cutting element 18. Also, debris, sticks, grass, small stones, and anything else that may be struck by the rapidly moving cutting element 18 may be scattered about to the sides and to the front of the prior art weed trimmer 10. This problem is particularly undesirable where one is trimming vegetation by a lake and does not wish to have vegetation and debris cast into the lake, creating an unsightly mess that must be removed at an expense of time and labor.
Furthermore, even though the cover 20 protects from debris being flung rearward during the cutting action of the cutting element 18, debris still becomes compelled rearward towards a user of the weed eater 10 through the open side areas 26. As a result, a user is typically covered with cut grass and all sorts of other debris that strikes the legs and feet of the user utilizing the typical prior art weed trimmer 10.
Typical prior art weed trimmers also have problems cutting tall flexible vegetations, such as tall thick grasses, which tend to wrap around the shaft area immediately above the rotating spool of the cutting element cord and may even stall the weed trimmer. When cutting this type of material, a user must often stop and clean off the shaft and spool area. To avoid this problem, such vegetations can only be cut slowly, by passing the trimmer through small amounts of material in a slow fashion.
What is needed is a way to improve the very popular and typical prior art weed trimmer 10, wherein the trimmer may be adapted to prevent debris from being flung to the front and sides of the weed trimmer. The safety of the weed trimmer should also be improved for those using the device, and for bystanders to the front and side of the device, while the cutting element is being used to strike vegetation or other small and cuttable elements. The ability of the prior art trimmer to efficiently cut tall flexible vegetation should also be improved.